Russian ICT News

Drone World Expo, held in San Jose (CA, 15-16 November), is the defining event for the commercial applications of UAS technology. J’son & Partners with JSON.TV attended the conference to get a sneak peek of commercial drone industry. ...

At IoT World 2016, which was organized by Informa Group and took place in Silicon Valley in USA last month, Hitachi announced Lumada, its IoT Core Platform, as well as the establishment of new entity for the development of its global IoT business: Hitachi Insight Group. JSON.TV had an opportunity to meet and talk with Kevin Eggleston, General Manager of the Americas for Hitachi Insight Group. Kevi...

IoT World 2016 took place 10-12 May in Silicon Valley, United States, organized by Informa Group. At the event, the JSON.TV team had the opportunity to speak with Terrence Nadeau, Vice President Global Procurement, Building Efficiency, at Johnson Controls. Mr. Nadeau spoke about the real benefits that Johnson Controls has already earned from smart, connected chillers and other intelligent equipmen...

IoT World 2016 took place10-12 May in Silicon Valley, the USA, being traditionally organized by Informa Group. Within the event, JSON.TV team managed to speak with John White, CEO at Powershelf. How its solutions, based on Smart Retail Labels and IoT sensors helps American retailers reduce their costs and OOS level (Out of Stock) radically, how Powershelf builds own partner ecosystem, who are main...

"Connectivity matters no matter the medium," said Matt Hancock MP who kicked off a packed second day here at Broadband World Forum. Whether it's fibre, a hybrid of copper and fibre or wireless, the customer cares only about the connection and their experience. How it's delivered doesn't matter....

JSON.TV attended InterDrone 2016 (The International Drone Conference & Exposition), which took place at Las Vegas on September 7-9.It is the largest commercial drone conference in North America with over 3,500 attendees from over 50 countries. We highlighted the main trends on the drone market. ...

E-commerce Trends 2015, a major e-commerce event in Poland, will hold its 6th edition at the Businessmen Institute in Warsaw on September 22-23. Highlighting the most important aspects of e-trade including cross-border trade, mobile commerce, modern logistics, payment and marketing services, the event will bring together key players from Central and Eastern Europe off...

Russian entrepreneurs who develop B2B solutions for the consumer segment may now receive support from a specially dedicated venture fund. Christened B2B Lab, this fund has just been launched by Alexander Boiko and Vadim Potrashkov, two shareholders of Russia’s leading B2B marketplace B2B-center.ru....

Yesterday CarPrice.ru, a major Russian online broker of used car, announced that it raised $40 million in a Series B funding round – a considerable amount in the context of contraction of the Russian venture market. The round was led by Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund V with the participation of Almaz Capital and other unnamed investors. No details of the transaction have been di...

Russian social network VKontakte is on the verge of releasing a mobile application along the lines of popular photo-sharing service Instagram, news agency RBC reported earlier this month, citing two unidentified people familiar with the company’s plans....

Inspired by the success of such apps as Gettaxi and Uber, two Moscow entrepreneurs have just launched GetNowBeauty, a mobile app that allows you to call to your home or office a hairdresser, facial aesthetic, hair removal or nail manicure specialist. To develop the service, former bank legal adviser and singer Anna Korona — whose real name is Anna Yapryntseva — and her h...

Earlier this month US citizen Kendrick White, a prominent figure in the Russian tech and venture scene, got involuntarily involved in a witch hunt targeting foreign citizens whose presence in Russia is judged “undesirable” in some political and media circles....

The grant committee of Skolkovo, the international high tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow, has signed off on a 30-million ruble grant (approximately $500,000) for space and telecommunications cluster resident startup HelgiLab. An equal amount is being put up by the company’s founders....

President Vladimir Putin said he was in favor of only “minimal” restrictions on the Internet, but added that he expected Russian citizens to respond with a forceful promotion of Moscow’s views to any “hostile” publications online. Putin made the comments during a meeting with young IT professionals taking part in the N...

iTech Capital, a fund with Russian origins now operating globally, has just invested $3 million in exchange for a minority stake in TradingView, a social fintech platform that unites traders and investors from around the world....

Yesterday Israeli startup Anyclip Media, which has developed a content marketing platform for distributing premium branded video, announced it has completed a $21 million funding round. Leading participants included new investors Ervington Investments, a company owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and Limelight Networks (LLNW), a global digital content delivery company....

In a new illustration of the invest-abroad trend among Russian investors, Target Ventures announced last month the opening of an office in San Francisco. The fund’s first US investment went to Prosper, a leading US peer-to-peer lending marketplace, which received $13 million, as reported by Russian tech blog Rusbase....

CEE-SECR is the premier software engineering conference in Russia. The 2015 edition of the conference will take place on October 22-23 at the Digital October Center in Moscow. Nearly 1,000 industry specialists, representing all IT areas, are expected to attend the event....

Russia will address Internet firms’ concerns about meeting a deadline to comply with a law forcing them to move the personal data of Russian citizens onto servers inside the country, a Kremlin spokesman said on Monday. Under a law last year, Internet sites that store the personal data of Russian citizens must do so on Russian servers from September. Moscow has said the law is aimed at p...

In late June Tel Aviv-based Drippler, which provides personalized recommendations on apps, features, and accessories, announced that it raised $4.5 million in Series A funding which involved two Russia-connected funds – Titanium Investments, which led the round, and TMT Investments....

An OTT and online TV business seminar in Moscow, organized by PCCW Global in partnership with J’son & Partners Consulting, drew leading Russian and international telecommunications companies as well as prominent TV and OTT players....

Maxfield Capital, a venture fund operating globally from its offices in Moscow, New York City and Tel Aviv, has invested “up to $500,000″ in OnFarm. This Fresno, California-based startup defines itself as an “Internet-of-Things platform that enables a comprehensive array of leading farm hardware technologies into a single grower-friendly management and decision platform.&rdq...

Last month RetailCRM secured $600,000 from Edison.VC, as reported by Russian tech blog Rusbase. This Series A round is intended to accelerate product development and commercial expansion, including in foreign market, the company announced....

In a new move to penetrate the Asian markets, Russian fintech fund Life.Sreda has inked a memorandum of understanding with Marvelstone Partners, a Seoul, South Korea-based investment group. The two partners intend to launch a $20 million fund targeting fintech startups in South Korea and other Asian countries....

Last month Yandex and its subsidiary Yandex.Money released two studies on the Russian e-payment industry. Even though cash on delivery still dominates where physical goods are concerned, Russians are now fully aware of the main available electronic payment methods, according to Yandex.Money, which teams up every spring with TNS to conduct its research....

New documents provided by former American secret service employee-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden claim that the U.S. and UK security services have been carrying out attacks against antivirus developers around the world, including Russian company Kaspersky Lab....

Intel is announcing the opening of an “IoT Ignition Labs” in Moscow. With a focus on Smart building, Smart City, and Retail, the Moscow lab “offers tools, technology and engineering know-how to those in the industry keen to take IoT projects into commercial deployment.”...

MakeTime Inc., an online platform offering machine capacity for immediate purchase, today announced a $2.65 million Series A round of funding led by Almaz Capital with participation from Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation (KSTC) and MakeTime’s early investors....

The U.S. has filed to seize $300 million that it claims was paid in bribes by two major Russian telecoms firms to a close relative of Uzbek President Islam Karimov in exchange for access to the Uzbek telecoms market, news agency Bloomberg reported Tuesday....

Earlier this month Ulmart, Russia’s leading e-commerce company, announced several new steps towards its planned IPO. JPMorgan and UBS have been appointed to prepare the operation, which may take place in spring next year, according to Ulmart chairman Dmitry Kostygin....

Last week, public attention was once again drawn to one of the most secretive and controversial figures of the Russian IT industry – Eugene Kaspersky, the founder of the prominent anti-virus company. Immediately after Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. and British security services had worked to subvert the company’s anti-virus software to track users and infiltrate networks, Kasper...

Earlier this month LinguaLeo, a service used by millions of web and mobile users in Russia, Brazil and Turkey to learn English, finally received a $500,000 capital injection from Social Discovery Ventures (SD Ventures) and existing investor Runa Capital....

Last week IBM signed a memorandum of understanding with Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow, the First Oncology Research and Advisory Center (FORAC), a resident of Skolkovo’s biomedical cluster. The three partner will develop a personalized medical platform in Russia in a joint strategic, technology and commercial collaboration effort....

Earlier this month, Booking.com announced that it will comply with Russia’s new law on personal data storage. The global online travel operator will soon transfer all data from the country’s users to a local data center, Russian business daily Kommersant reported....

In June 2015 Russia launched the comprehensive project BrosayemKurit.rf (translation: Let’s Quit Smoking). The country celebrated World No Tobacco Day on May 31 with the release of another mobile application, “Smoke Free Area.”...

Last week IQcard, a startup offering prepaid cards and monetization instruments for retailers’ loyalty programs, has raised an undisclosed amount from Finteca Holdings, a new fintech fund investing in Russia and Eastern Europe....

This year Startup Sabantuy, a Kazan, Russia-based startup contest, went as far as Belgrade and Novi Sad (Serbia), Istanbul, and Dubai, in addition to a range of Russian cities, to find and support promising startup together with investors....

This week the Center for New Media & Society will host their colleagues Rob Faris and Bruce Etling from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University for a number of joint events in Moscow....